It had been three days since the play. The students moved on with their daily lives, the Play being a topic between them only once and a while for a certain event had caused a more uproar.

 

"Who do you think's gonna give you chocolates?"

 

Jisung asked Chenle but immediately asked him to forget about it. Chenle was famous yet he probably didn't care about who would give him sweet treats.

 

"I think it's not about who but how."

 

Jisung slow clapped at his remarkable statement. Chenle brushed off his shoulders, proud of his own doing.

 

"How about you," he asked Jisung, "are you expecting someone?"

 

"Kinda?"

 

Anna surprisingly appeared in front of them, causing them to step back. Her eyes looked wide and surprised.

 

"W-what's wrong?"

 

"Come here, both of you."

 

She pulled the two of them in the empty stairway. She looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on what seems to be an important discussion.

 

"Anna, are you okay?"

 

She hushed them and gestured them to move their heads closer to each other.

 

"I've heard some weird news going around."

 

"Oh please, you always do."

 

"Shut up, Mr. Jisung. Anyway, it's about my cousin and Donghyuck-sunbae."

 

The two widened their eyes and inched closer. Anna pushed their heads a little further.

 

"Please don't tell anyone, Chenle."

 

He nodded and asked her to quickly tell them what had happened to the couple. The past three days have been normal but something seemed off. Donghyuck was never seen with Sehyun and the two acted like nothing occured.

 

"Okay, so I noticed that they've never been together these past days."

 

"Did you," Jisung asked, "consider asking her why?"

 

"Duh, Of course I did! She usually tells me her problems but this is the first time she brushed it off and said nothing was wrong."

 

"That sounds wrong in itself."

 

"Exactly, Chenle. Exactly. I wanted to ask Donghyuck and Jaemin sunbae but that would look like I'm excessively nosy. Well, technically, I am but I'm just concerned about my dear cousin, okay."

 

"Hurry up, Anna, we've got classes soon."

 

"Okay, so, maybe something did happen to them. I'm guessing they knew something about each other?"

 

She started thinking and shook her head as if saying that she was very uncertain.

 

"Anyway, I need your help. Can you help me?"

 

Jisung and Chenle exchanged glances and simultainously nodded. Anna gave a sigh of relief and smiled at the two.

 

"So what's the news?"

 

Chenle asked and Anna slapped her forehead. She mentioned her observations but forgot to mention the breaking news.

 

"Oh, crap, I'm sorry. My two friends told me about this and I trust them a lot, so I think it's pretty much true. They told me," she motioned them to come closer,

 

"Sehyun's been with Jeno for these past days now."

 

— ☼ —

 

He didn't feel at ease. He knew there were footsteps following him as he walked down the path towards the school gate yet he currently didn't have the energy to talk to anyone. All he could do was sigh.

 

"What do you want from me?"

 

He turned around and saw his two juniors watching a game commence from a phone. Jaemin squinted at them which caused Jisung to tap Chenle, saying that they should give in.

 

"You've been following me since this noon."

 

"Psh, us? Following you? No way that's never gonna happen."

 

Jaemin glared at the younger boy. Jisung was never really good at lying and Chenle wasn't any different.

 

"We were just um... conducting a social experiment."

 

"To see how different species react when stalked."

 

They smiled widely at Jaemin and he just shook his head. He walked away but the two blocked his path.

 

"Look, both of you," he scratched his head, "if there's something you wanna tell me, spit it already. I'm tired and I'm willing to knock out anything that gets in my way."

 

Chenle and Jisung glanced awkwardly at each other. Jisung nudged Chenle to start speaking and so, he coughed.

 

"Well...um," he furrowed his eyebrows, "we wanted to know how Sehyun-noona's doing."

 

Jaemin stared at them for a while as they glanced around or played with their fingers. He chuckled.

 

"It's none of my business with what she and Donghyuck are going through. So if I were to answer what you really wanted to know then I don't know. But how Sehyun's doing, she looks fine. Just restless these days, I guess."

 

He walked past them and tapped both their shoulders. As he walked on, he stretched his arms, relieved to finally go home.

 

"I dodged that nicely."

 

Jaemin whispered to himself. Jisung and Chenle stared at his back image getting further away from them. Suddenly, Jisung's phone from his pocket buzzed, indicating that someone was calling.

 

"Who's that?"

 

"The person I expect chocolate from."

 

Jisung slid his fingers across his screen and answered the phone with a smile plastered on his face.

 

"Yo Mark-hyung, what's up?"

 

"Yo Jisung, did you hear the news?"

 

Chenle moved closer to Jisung in order to hear their conversation. Jisung tried to move away but ultimately failed.

 

"Wait, you've heard it too?"

 

"Yeah, of course I have. I'm Jeno's friend, you know."

 

"Wait, hyung, hold on."

 

He covered the phone's microphone and whispered to Chenle that Mark might've obtained information they've been looking for.

 

"Hyung?"

 

Chenle snatched the phone from Jisung earning a whine from the boy.

 

"Yooo Zhong Chenlers."

 

"Can you tell us what you know about the news?"

 

"Of course I can," Chenle heard a momentary pause on the other side, "but under one condition."

 

Chenle sighed and rolled his eyes. It was another one of those requests Mark gave him that was really a hassle. Yet he couldn't just decline when a huge scoop was on the line.

 

"Ugh...what is it now?"

 

"Hey, you're still getting free chocolates this valentine's, don't worry. And my request's not that hard."

 

"For you, it isn't."

 

"Anyways, ask your dad for a love gift for me, please?"

 

"You rascal."

 

He heard a laugh from the other side of the line and decided to end the call from there. Jisung chuckled, already knowing what they had talked about.

 

"So?"

 

"Come on, let's visit Mark-hyung."

 

"And he's still your favorite hyung after all the things he's asked from you."

 

Chenle smiled.